Sumerianz Journal of Scientific Research, 2020, Vol. 3, No. 7, pp. 82-90 ISSN(e): 2617-6955, ISSN(p): 2617-765X Website: https://www.sumerianz.com © Sumerianz Publication CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 Original Article Open Access Impact of Biotic Interferences on Shankaracharya Forest Ecosystem Article History Shaheena Hassan P.G. Department of Environmental Science, S.P. College Campus, Cluster University, Srinagar Kashmir Received: July 2, 2020 Revised: July 20, 2020 Shahid Ahmed Wani P.G. Department of Environmental Science, S.P. College Campus, Cluster University, Srinagar Kashmir Accepted: July 25, 2020 * Published: July 29, 2020 Basharat Mushtaq P.G. Department of Environmental Science, S.P. College Campus, Cluster University, Srinagar Kashmir Email: [email protected] Abstract The present study is an attempt to document the impact of biotic interferences in Shankaracharya forest ecosystem, Kashmir (India). The cumulative effect of the biotic interferences was significantly seen in the reduction of the vegetation cover. The present study revealed that the prominent factor for the exploitation of the vegetation cover of the study area at herbaceous level is simple human interference. The increasing disturbance not only disturbs the plant species diversity, richness and evenness significantly but various plant species are near to get eliminated from impacted area by different kinds of interferences like tourism pressure, trespassing, vehicular disturbances, military activities etc. High number of species were recorded at undisturbed site than disturbed site. Keywords: Shankaracharya forest; Ecosystem; Biotic interference; Vegetative cover; Disturbed and undisturbed site. 1. Introduction Nature has endowed the planet earth with emenous diversity and diverse resources, forests as one among the major natural resource bestowed by nature as plenty number of biotic communities and forest resource occupies a unique position by playing an important role in the development of society by providing a wide range of goods and services and have diverse ecological roles . The vegetation is a fundamental component of ecosystems that reflects the effects of the total environment [1]. Plants grow collectively in a specific ecosystem and have a mutual relationship among themselves as well as within the local environment [2], which results in the formation of different vegetation types in different regions. Forests are important as they provide various ecosystem services such as species conservation, prevention of soil erosion and preservation of habitat for plants and animals [3, 4]. Tree species diversity is the determinant of total forest biodiversity as trees provide resources as well as habitats for almost all other forest species [5]. In forest ecosystems, tree species diversity varies greatly from place to place mainly due to variation in biogeography, habitat and disturbance [6]. Environmental variability in terms of climatic factors, social resources, grazing by herbivores and human interference are the critical factors which regulate the spatial and temporal patterns of the vegetation of an ecosystem [7]. However, the composition of vegetation is fluctuating and continuous modification takes place depending upon the temperature, moisture, sunlight and available nutrients [8]. The word disturbance is used in ecology to refer to a great variety of phenomena. Examples of disturbance include fires, storms, diseases, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, contaminant spills, land clearing and dredging among many others [9] for an overview of sources and characteristics of disturbance. Impacts of disturbance on biodiversity have been studied in a great variety of ecosystems ranging from tundra communities [10] to coral reefs [11], a range of organisms extending from bacteria [12] to primates [13] and at multiple levels of organization including molecular pathways [14] and ecosystem functioning [15]. The types of disturbance involved include everything from single tree-falls [16] to ecological catastrophes [17]. From a historical perspective, disturbance has long been present in ecological theory. Early views focused on succession, which took communities from the colonization of barren space by pioneer species, to highly complex and diverse climax communities [18]. The importance of disturbance in this context is that it leads to secondary succession and sometimes prevents communities from reaching their climax state. The progressive realization of the roles of grazing and predation on delaying competitive exclusion led to the formulation of the intermediate disturbance hypothesis [19, 20]. Kashmir valley in our country harbors a rich repository of diverse of flora due to its varied topography and spatial heterogeneity [21]. The vast and varied natural resources of the earth are essential for the sustenance and wellbeing of mankind. Currently forest resources are under tremendous stresses due to human ecological assemblages and interferences with in ecosystem [22, 23]. The forests are threatened by uncontrolled degradation and conservation to other types of land uses, under the influence of increasing human needs, agricultural expansion, and environmentally harmful mismanagement, including unsustainable commercial logging, overgrazing and unregulated browsing, etc. The degradation of forests is chiefly due to various anthropogenic pressures [24]. Over recent decades levels of anthropogenic disturbance have been a major driver of biodiversity loss at local, regional *Corresponding Author 82 Sumerianz Journal of Scientific Research and global scales. The vegetation has been affected directly and indirectly by man and his various activities in the forest ecosystems. Biotic factors are greatly responsible for changing the complexation of the forest vegetation in the recent past and even presently. Various biotic factors which disturbs the numerical diversity in forest ecosystem include; construction of roads, harvesting of timber, tourism pressure, collection of medicinal herbs, fodder collection, grazing and browsing activities , habitat destruction, over exploitation and pollution and species introduction. These biotic interferences have created an alarming situation for forest ecosystem which in turn affect overall environmental conditions of respective areas. In the recent past, increasing biotic pressures on forest ecosystem of Kashmir valley has altered their structure and function. Current forest ecosystem of valley are increasingly impacted by variety of biotic interferences such as deforestation, habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, fires, overexploitation of resources etc. [25, 26]. While being utilize the various services as well as foods from forest ecosystem, the fragile ecosystem becomes prime targets of various biotic interferences. Kashmir Himalayan forest ecosystems are very intricate and delicate for having varied landscape. Therefore, many problems are confronted with which have greatly affected the conservation and management of natural resources such as forests, water, soil and land [27]. Vegetation dynamics have been neglected by researchers because of their remoteness, inaccessibility, danger, and lack of local infrastructure. In recent times, the unsustainable anthropogenic activities are posing serious threat to the forest ecosystems of this Himalayan region. It is in this context the present study was carried out to understand the impact of biotic interferences on Shankaracharya forest ecosystem. Hopefully the present study on this forest ecosystem will provide a baseline for scientific understanding of the rich biodiversity to enable undertaking effective initiatives for the conservation and management of Shankaracharya forest ecosystem. 2. Study Area The Shankaracharya hill is located between 34° 04' 35.56'' and 34° 05' 25.08'' N latitude and 74° 50' 03.16'' and 74° 51' 08.63'' E longitude, covering an area of approximately 138.35 ha. It represents one of the extension tail tips of the Zabarwan range in Srinagar and lies in south-east of Srinagar at a distance of about 4.5 km from clock tower, Lal chowk and 17.5 km from Dachigam National park. Average height of the hill is nearly 300 m i.e, from 1572 to 1880 m above mean sea level. It bears a prevailing northerly trend and shows a gradual increase in its height till it merges with the majestic snow-clad waterway mountains in the south east. It offers mountainous precipitous and actively eroding slopes and scraps topography, sometimes with differently dissected terrain. It is also punctuated by numerous Spurs, ravines and cliffs all along its area. The hill has a great religious value and is so named due to presence of a temple called Shankaracharya temple at its top. The temple is thought to be oldest shrine in Kashmir and an attraction for tourists all over the world. For the present study, four sampling sites have been selected at different locations in the forest ecosystem. Site A: is located at the foot (downhill) of the Shankaracharya forest hill station. This site is highly disturbed due to various activities like human encroachments and tourism. Hence this site is considered as disturbed site for this study. This site has very low vegetation cover and scanty trees were also present at this site. Site B: This site is located at the middle area of Shankaracharya forest hill station. This site has been designated as undisturbed as it possesses a very high vegetation cover. Overall high diversity was found. Site C: This site is located